The Real Thing
by DieselFire
Summary: What was the REAL reason for Vince being so territorial over Mia? Read & Review to find out!
1. Rachel Cordelia Duquesne

**Chapter One:**** Rachel Cordelia Duquesne**

I know the story about my parents—Mia Toretto and Vince Duquesne had gotten together and separated, later to have me. They never married but Mom still lived at the Fort with Uncle Dom and Letty, as did Dad, Leon and his newest girlfriend, Carly.

Dom and Letty still hadn't gotten married, even though they'd been together forever. Mom had dated on and off for years, but Dad hadn't so much as given any girl a second look, even at the races, when only the bravest of the chasers ventured towards my father as I sat with him.

And then there was Jaya _Nehru_, a new mechanic working at DT. She'd moved to Los Angeles from Amritsar with her brother, Balraj, over the summer. It seemed she was always finding new ways to better my uncle's automotive business. But that still wasn't enough to keep Dad and Uncle Dom from taking on a suicidal stunt.

My mom wasn't pregnant when Uncle Dom went into Lompoc. She and Dad had been dating casually but I guess something changed when Dom went in. Sure, Mom was legal and all that shit, but still, when Dom found out, he wanted to kill my dad.

Ma started going to see him again more frequently after I was born, usually leaving me with Letty—one of the few reasons Let would actually stay home from the garage without putting up a fight and _wasn't_ nursing one hell of a hangover.

I was two, almost three when he got out. I'd never met the guy but I'd heard about him. Letty and I were the only ones at the house that afternoon when Vince brought him home. I took one look at him before I hightailed it out of the room, hiding behind Letty. It took me around a week and a half before I'd even acknowledge him when he spoke to me.

Balraj was close to my age and a wiz in algebra.

As I got older I got more and more into the cars, just like every other person who lived at the Fort, which pretty much labeled me a daddy's girl for life…sure I might have looked like Mia but that didn't mean I had to act like her.

Letty had been thrilled when I'd gotten interested in cars—she finally had someone who wasn't a guy that was as into cars as she was—this drove Mama even more insane, especially when I came home with grease dried into my hair

As I got older, I tried like hell to move past the lure of engines and NOS fumes. Unfortunately—but to Letty's pleasure—it wasn't possible. When most girls were taking Home Econ., I was in auto shop, leaving most of the guys behind.

"Hey Balraj; last one home's doin' oil changes for a month!" I said as I floored it out of the school parking lot one afternoon; he'd been at cross-country practice while I'd been in detention. I knew I could easily out run him if I took the shortcut home. I was sitting on the trunk of the car Letty was working on when he drove up.

"You cheated!"

"Did not! It's not my fault your car's a P.O.S!"

"You took the short cut!"

"Yeah, so what, you never said not to! You know how I change oil; don't make me get Dom to make you do it over again!" she muttered something under her breath about me having Dom wrapped around my little finger as she left the shop.

"You seen my dad, Let?"

"He and Mia had a fight about some guy that asked her to a movie or something…" her voice trailed off and I knew where she was going with this.

"Blond, blue-eyed, likes the worst tuna in town?"

"So you've met Mia's newest suitor?" Letty asked as she slid under the car.

"He makes me nervous…there's something off about him. I'd have thought Dad would have scared him off after that blow-up at the diner…guess the guy's ballsier than I thought he was."

"It's gonna take more than just your dad kickin' his ass to make him go away." Letty said, closing the hood of the car she was working on.

"So where'd he go after the argument with Mami?" I asked, curious how far I'd have to roam to find him.

"Not sure…he could be damn near anywhere." Letty said triumphantly as she pulled the tool she'd been searching for from the upright chest. "If you _do_ happen to find him, tell him to make Jamille quit calling here everyday before I kick her ass a time!" I couldn't help but laugh; Letty already didn't like Jamille, and the poor girl was only exacerbating the situation. When Jamille _did_ occasionally get the hint, she'd move on to Dad like clockwork.

I went down to El Gato Negro on a whim to see if Hector had Dad doing elbow-lifts again. When I got there, all I found at the bar was hector's baby sister, Saige.

"Root beer float, kid?" I accepted and pulled my wallet. "Its on the house tonight, mi prima."

"Have you seen my dad, Saige?" I asked, jabbing at the ice cream in the mug she'd handed me.

"He's been here since around noon…said something about Mia and that was the last sober word he said." She answered, rhythmically wiping down the bar.

"Cut him off when the night crew gets in and get him a room somewhere, will you? Mami'll freak if he comes home sloshed." I finished my float and left.

When I got back to the fort, Uncle Dom and Letty had the barbecue fired up while Ma was getting friendly with our dinner guest, Diner Boy.

"So what do you think of our dinner guest, Jaya?"

"I think your dad's right—blondie smells like a cop. But your uncle seems to like him. We know your dad doesn't, and leon doesn't seem to give a rats ass one way or another. Not sure about Letty, though." I laughed at this.

"Trust me, Balraj, Letty's definitely with my dad on this one—mostly 'cause my folks hooking up would make Jamille stop callin' here." My mom and Letty walked in on the tail-end of my conversation with Balraj. "Hey, Letty…tell Uncle Dom he's been replaced as my dad's drinking buddy." The chatter between Mom and Let stopped and Letty put down the case of Corona she held.

"By who?"

"He's been at Hector's since lunch, you do the math."

"I thought Dom told Hector's stupid ass _not to serve _Vince any more." She turned to go back outside.

"I told Saige to make sure he got cut off when the night shift started, and that he didn't drive home."

That weekend, on Friday night, the buster made his first appearance at the street races. The cops came and broke it up like they almost always did, but not before Spilner lost his car. I'd been at Hector's place earlier that day and wound up still being around when it was time for the races, so I opted to ride with them and meet up with my folks from there. Hector was the first to actually talk to him.

"_Sweet Ride. What you run?" _He didn't answer. _"You're gonna make me find out the hard way, huh, ese?"_

"_Hell yeah."_

"_You're brave, hombre. Who are you, anyway?"_

"_Brian Spilner."_

"_Name's Hector; got a last name, too, but I can't pronounce it so,"_ he said, shrugging it off. _"So, what's up with you, man?"_

"_Just waitin' for Toretto."_ So that's what this idiot was doing here; it was kind of pathetic the number of rich white boys we'd been attracting to the races lately.

"_Better get in line. This yours?" _Edwin joined us; I wasn't sure why he kept coming around; he never actually won a race, so it had to be for the women.

"_Yeah, I'm standin' next to it."_

"_Tha's funny. Edwin happens to know a few things; and one of the things Edwin knows is, it ain't how you stand by your car, its how you _race_ your car." _

The sound of supped up cars—most likely my family's—approaching. I knew the order they'd arrive—it had been the same since before I was around.

Uncle Dom would pull in first, flanked by Dad on the left and Letty on the right, Ma would be with her if she chose to tag along for the night; then Leon behind Dad and Jesse tailing Letty.

Like clockwork, the skanks—Camille was the worst of all—swarmed the boys, specifically my uncle. And just like every other night we raced, there was Letty, breaking up the party the skanks were trying to bring to life.

The set-up for the races ensued, complete with the ritualistic exchanging of insults between other Dom, Hector, Edwin and Danny Yamamoto, one of the Asians Dom would race, simply because he wasn't affiliated in with Johnny Tran.


	2. Things Fall Apart

**Chapter Two:** Things Fall Apart

Two days later, Mom was working on the books for the garage during a lull at the shop when I got there. So was Brian, a.k.a. the Buster.

"¿Qué tal, Mamí?" Brian eyed me cautiously as Ma went into the back of the store.

"So you're Rae, huh?" My posture stiffened as I turned to face him.

"I don't know who you are, but be warned. If you're a cop, you'd better get the hell out of Los Angeles and stay the fuck away from my mother and our family." I moved away from him right as Mia was coming out of the storeroom, about the same time Dad pulled up in his Maxima. "Say your prayers, Arizona; only difference between me and my dad is that I'm not nearly as violent as he can be."

"Get outta here, Rachel." Dad's tone told me I should do as he said but I couldn't let my dad kill a man in cold blood.

"Daddy. I'm not gonna let you try and kill this guy for hitting on Mama!" His face changed to something that told me I was mere steps away from committing treason against my family.

"Stay away from her, buster. You hurt her OR my daughter, I will kill you." He left the shop and sped off. I pulled my phone from my pocket and called Letty.

"What's up, Rae?"

"Send Leon to find Daddy. And find some way to get rid of Spilner."

The summer was almost over and Brian was still lurking around the garage. He and my mom had started dating on an almost nightly basis. Letty and I shared this theory that Ma did it simply because she knew it drove Vince crazy.

Yesterday, there was a huge brawl between Dad and Spilner, then Dad and Uncle Dom, and finally, one big loud fight between Mom, Dad, Uncle Dom and Letty.

See, Uncle Dom asked Mama's new boyfriend to join his team at Race Wars, much to Dad's dismay. And now here we were, fourteen hours later, the tension in the air so heavy you could cut it with a knife.

Everything was fine until Jesse got it into his head that he could race Johnny and win. It was a bad idea from the start, we all tried to tell him that. But that's just how Jesse was—he did what he wanted, otherwise it would drive him crazy.

That night, after Uncle Dom nearly beat Johnny to a pulp, they were out on "business", leaving me, Mom, and Spilner behind. I wouldn't find out until much later exactly what was going on.

It didn't matter anymore whose bright idea a stunt like that was, or that three of them were in the hospital's intensive care unit, or that Jesse was hanging on by a thread. All I could really think about was my mom and Uncle Dom. He'd taken off after Johnny and Lance shot Jesse. The Trans, we would later learn, were dead. Mom was at the house, in her own deluded world; Dad had been right-on about Spilner—whose name we'd later learn was O'Conner—being a cop.

Leon called me after dropping Dad and Letty at the hospital. Dad had spent an hour in the trauma room till they could stop the bleeding and get him into an O.R., and Jesse had flat-lined three times—once in the trauma room and twice more in the O.R.—before they could stabilize him enough to move to surgery.

I spent most of their first day in the hospital, curled into Letty's side drifting in and out of sleep, not that it did much for me. I was thirteen years old and watching my family fall apart right before my eyes.

I don't know how long I'd been out when I began to come around, but when I did, one of the first things I heard when I came to were two heart monitors. I could feel by the body type that I was still with Letty.

"¿Qué pasó?" (_What's going on?_)

"No mucho. Su tío Dom consiguió alguna idea estúpido en su cabeza otra vez. Nos no sabemos dondé esta ahora." Letty said quietly as I sat up on the bed. (_Not much. Your uncle Dom got a stupid idea in his head again. Don't know where he is now._)

"What about my dad?"

"Outta surgery but he'll be out a few more days."

"¿Y Leon?" Letty nodded towards the chair beside the bed.

"He brought your mom in yesterday, round 3:30 A.M. half off her rocker. They gave her something to calm her and let her sleep it off."

"So no sign of the cop?"

"The cop and the car are nowhere to be found. The charger's a different story, though." Leon said, waking up from having dozed off.

"What?!" Letty and I both exclaimed at the same time. The beeping from her heart monitor increased.

"There's no sign of Dom but that car is in the LAPD impound lot. Pretty much totaled; news says that Spilner let his mark go."


	3. Are You Happy Now?

**Chapter Three:** Are You Happy Now?

Three days later, Dad was taken off the sedatives but still doped up on painkillers.

By then, Mom was long gone. She took off the night Jesse died, a day and a half after his murderers were taken out. Dad stood to have a permanent limp unless he started physical therapy right away.

Letty came out fine, a little worse for wear but physically she'd be fine. Emotionally it was another story. With Uncle Dom on the run and Dad still down for the count, things were looking considerably shaky at the garage, even with help from Leon, Jaya, Balraj and myself.

I was alone in the garage one afternoon a few weeks after Dad got out of the hospital when Mom walked in.

"Where's your boyfriend, the cop?" I asked after having simply stared at her for a while.

"I know you probably blame me, Rachel, baby, but I made a mistake."

"You seem to do that a lot, Mama." I tried not to sound angry but it wasn't easy. "Like the time you and Daddy got into that fight over me when you said he was the biggest mistake you'd ever made. Have you even been to see him?"

"Rachel, baby, you know I didn't mean that."

"Come on. I can finish this stuff later. Daddy, Letty, and the others are at home; I'm sure they'd love to see you."

The ride home was quiet and full of tension. I had so many things I wanted to say to her that my head was swimming, almost drowning in my thoughts.

"You heard from Uncle Dom?" she shook her head. "Granddad's car is in the LAPD impound lot. Le says its pretty much totaled." Mia winced, knowing how much that car had meant to her brother. An uneasy silence fell over us when she pulled up in front of the house.

"Come on. Its your house, too." Ma gave a weak smile before killing the engine and getting out of the car.

Inside, things were quiet. Dad was in a chair by the fireplace, guitar in hand. Leon was dozing on the couch and Letty was sitting propped up against the banister of the stairs, staring at some spot on the floor.

"Slow day, Rae?" Letty asked, her gaze not moving from where it was fixed on the floor.

"You could say that, I guess. I had an interesting visitor, though. Ma's back in town." All three of their gazes were on me within ten seconds of saying this, fixed upon the fact that I was standing beside my mother as if nothing had happened.

""Look what the cat dragged in." Letty sneered. "What, sick of your goddamn cop already?" Even a warning glare from Leon wasn't enough to silence an angry Letty.

"Oh, like you've never fucked up, Letty. You just can't handle the fact that someone other than Dom fucked up!" It was then that the fists flew. It was unexpected and therapeutic at the same time.

"Are you happy, Mia? Your brother's run off like a dog with his tail between his legs and nearly killed his best friend in the process! He's lucky he can even walk, never mind the fact that he still has his arm!" by now Dad had Mom's arms held behind her back, while Leon was restraining Letty to the best of his abilities.

"If you wanna have it out with Dom, feel free. Just remember: you gotta find him first!" Mia spat back simply because she knew Letty wouldn't be able to hit her.

"Only person I feel like goin' a few rounds with is your buddy, Spilner! Its his fault Jesse's dead, Mia. He might not have pulled the trigger, but he's still responsible for it!" Letty snarled, lashing against Leon's restraint. This time it was me that slapped Letty. As angry as I may have been about the recent chain of events, it wasn't a legitimate reason for her to berate my mother like that.

"What the hell was that?" I asked, my voice grave as Dad took Ma from the den out into the backyard. "You wanna yell at somebody? Go. Find. Dom. Do not take it out on her. I don't intend to have this conversation with you again, Letty."

"Rae, I—"

"Personally, it makes no difference to me if he comes back or not. Either way he's still family whether I like it or not. Until then, don't yell at my mom because of what her brother did." I turned and followed my parents' led out into the backyard.

"She's right. She's absolutely right. I let him in here; into our family. I might as well have been the one with the gun in my hands." I could hear my mother whimpering in my father's arms—a sight that was almost completely foreign but comforting at the same time.

"She's angry at Dom for leavin' her behind, Mi. So much for that promise of a beach in Mexico." He said. "She can't yell at him like she used to so she's takin' it out on you." I almost laughed at how intelligent my dad sounded—something Uncle Dom wouldn't have given the time of day. What I saw next would have put Jesse on a permanent high.

I don't know what prompted it—the tension of the moment, my mother's emotional volatility from my uncle's absence, or impulse—but it felt like a sign from jesse that we'd be alright. And then she spoke.

"I miss you, V."


	4. Fall of the Other Shoe

**CHAPTER 4:**

As unpleasant as my father's moods were before the accident, the physical therapy for his leg definitely made them worse; Mom and I usually received the brunt end of it. Letty began to come and go as she pleased, usually in a worse mood than when she'd left. I assume she was trying to find Uncle Dom, but was quickly realising the hopelessness of her endeavor.

By the start of school, wounds—both physical and those to the ego—had been licked and were finally beginning to mend. All except for one—Letty's heart. It had been a while since people finally stopped asking about him, which allowed her to become her old self as much as possible—except she was detached from Dom.

My parents had begun trying to rebuild what they'd had before Uncle Dom went to Lompoc. Dad's therapy was done, and he'd moved on to learning to use his arm again. This time his moods were better. Things were back to relative normality.

By now it was almost October. The feds were pretty much leaving us—and Harry—alone, and business at the garage was beginning to pick back up.

With Uncle Dom gone, some of the gutsier guys we knew from the races took it upon themselves to try and ask Letty out—to dinner, movies, whatever. She hit the first guy and broke the second's jaw. And then came Hector—the last guy anyone expected to attempt it. He was the only one she accepted.

"So you guys don't have a clue where Dom's at, eh?" Hector asked, laughing. "Shit ain't right, girl. Not right at all."

"Shit wasn't right for a long time before the white boy got involved." Letty said, leaning into the back of the booth she shared with Hector at _Cha-Cha-Cha_.

"So what are you sayin', hermanita, that you're throwin' the king himself to _las chicas locas_?" Hector asked. Letty snorted her dissent towards the reference.

"Last time I checked, Elvis was dead and buried."

"And Toretto?"

"Over; done; ancient history." Letty answered, her tone confident. "He lived his life and now I'm gonna go live mine. I'm through wasting my time on him."

It was almost Halloween—about a week before.

Things were good: my folks were acting like an almost-actual couple; Leon and Carly (A/N: see C1) were thinking about getting a place nearby; and I could almost swear Letty was beginning to fall for Hector.

Then it happened. They both came back.


	5. Treadmarks

First Spilner or O'Connor or whatever his name was; then Uncle Dom.

Why they decided to come back on a race night, I'll never know or really understand.

Letty'd just finished an 8G race, and the _real _racers had split into two crowds; one congratulating Letty for her win, the other, it wasn't quite clear what was going on. The majority of the "skanks" were crowding around a car none of us recognized.

"What the hell's going on?" Jaya wondered aloud, closing the hood of Letty's car after a post-race review.

"Don't know. You want me to go check it out?" I asked Letty, curious myself who our mystery guest was.

"Yeah, just don't do nothin' stupid, aight?" I waved over my shoulder as I disappeared into the crowd and worked my way through it.

What I saw when I got thru made me nauseous, angry, violent and relieved all in the same breath.

"Oh. My. God." Right before my eyes stood not only The Cop himself but my Uncle, Dominic Toretto.

A/N: I know its short but it's 10:30 EST and I gotta get to bed…stupid school!

**Chapter 5 Part Deux:** Treadmarks

After the initial haze wore off, I decked the Cop—hard. Then I turned on my heel and moved faster than I can ever remember moving in my entire life.

"Dad, we got a potential fight on our hands." I said, hardly out of breath, but flexing my hand after having hit the cop.

"What's up, baby?"

"He's here. They're BOTH here." In that instance I watched my father's face 10 shades of pissed-off-red.

The next thing I knew, Dad had knocked O'Connor on his ass and was rearranging his face. The folks who hadn't crowded their car were now joining the previous crowd.

"What the _hell_ is going on here?" Ma demanded, moving to pull Dad off of the cop.

"Mama…you don't wanna do that. Mama!" she paid me no attention. Then Letty walked up..

"Rachel, I thought I told you…" her voice trailed off as she came face to face with my Uncle. "…Not to start anything."

She stood there for a moment before she stalked up to Dom, standing toe to toe with my uncle, looking him dead in the eye before promptly slapping him—hard—and kneeing him in the groin.


	6. All Hell Breaks Loose Race Night

Chapter Six:  
WARNING: slight hector/letty fluff

"That was for Jesse. Remember him? The kid you left for dead on the curb in front of your house?" Letty sneered at him. It was then that Hector appeared behind Letty, arms wrapping around her hips.

"What's all the drama, mami?" he asked, kissing Letty's neck.

"El maleton ha regresado." Letty said, relaxing into Hector's hold.

"So you've moved from royalty to bottom feeders, eh, Let?" Dom gave Hector an "I Could take you" look. Letty saw it.

"At least he's faithful." This set the crowd abuzz. Dom moved to take a step towards Hector and Letty met him move for move.

"What are you gonna do, Dom, hit me?" Letty asked, her eyes daring him to do something, anything. Anything but what he did.

Before Letty had a chance to counter Dom's movements, he had her locked in a kiss. Out of instinct, Letty kissed him back, moaning softly when their tongues met. For a seemingly split second, the two were in a world of their own…that is until Leon started screaming that the cops were coming. When she got back to the Fort, Hector was waiting for her.

"There's no party tonight, Hector. You know that." Letty said, walking up the drive.

"So, what, I gotta have a reason to wanna see my girl?" he asked. When he moved to put a hand on her arm, she sidestepped him.

"It's been a long night, Hector, and I just wanna get some sleep. Got a problem with that?" Letty snapped, playing with the keys in her hand.

"When my girl's havin' wet dreams about another man—_her ex_, for that matter—hell yes I got a problem with it!" The look on Letty's face turned murderous.

"If you've been gettin' **any** lately, you know as well as I do that it ain't been from me. I don't want to see you here again, Hector." When Hector drove off, Letty went into the house. She soon regretted her decision, when she was greeted by a loud argument between Mia and Vince in the kitchen.

"Why did you defend him?" Dad demanded.

"I was trying to keep you from winding up in Lompoc for two years like my brother!" Mia said, rinsing a glass in the sink. "You have nothing to worry about; if anyone should be worried, I think it's Hector." Vince laughed and Letty grinned softly from where she stood in the dark hallway.

It had been a while since Letty had been kissed like that—quite possibly the last time she'd been with Dom. It was almost as if kissing him again after the amount of time he'd been gone (almost six months) had made something snap inside of her; something that only Dom had the power to cause.

Letty turned and crept up the stairs, careful to skip the one that always creaked halfway up the flight.

Her head was swimming from the onslaught of emotion Dom's return had triggered within her. She'd had fun with Hector, there was no denying that. But it hadn't been anywhere near what it had been with Dom—something that hadn't been missing with Dom. After the heists, Mia had made up the spare bed in Rachael's room and Letty'd slept there since.

Her thirteen-year-old niece's room somewhat resembled her own at thirteen—the floor littered in magazines from automotive companies…the only difference was that there were motorcycle manuals and magazines thrown into the mix.

Upon reaching the top of the stairs, Letty detoured to her old room—the one she used to share with Dom. She knew her way around that room blindfolded—and that was how she'd done things as of late—focusing on a spot on the wall or even with her eyes closed to whatever it was that she needed from the room. But today was different.

Downstairs, Vince and Mia were still arguing.

"Vince, I wouldn't lie to you…not about this, not after what he did to—" Dad cut her off.

"What, Mia? Our family? Nearly getting me killed, not to mention what happened to Letty!" that's where I walked in.

"What do you mean? Letty _flipped her car_, brian had nothing to do with that. What happened? What don't I know about?"

"I thought you told her!" Dad growled, not necessarily angry.

"You told me not to tell anyone, more specifically not to tell Rachel, so…" Mama answered, trying not to start another argument.

"Since when do you listen to me?" Dad retorted.

"Since you tried to kill Hector for sleeping around on Letty and knocking the whore up!" I stood there, jaw slacked, wondering if my parents even realised that I was still in the room with them.

"But what does Brian have to do with that?" I asked, getting more and more confused by the minute.

"Letty caught 'em together…you oughta see the bruise that asqueroso left on her arm." This gave me an idea.

"Ma, you still got that old Polaroid camera?" after a few minutes of rummaging through cabinets, she pulled it out. I was going to fix Hector's ego problem, while also giving my uncle a shot in hell at a window of opportunity to get Letty back.

A day and a half later, I owed Jaya a month of washing her car on the weekends, but at least I knew where to find my uncle. I don't know how she did it, but she did, in a time that nearly broke jesse's record.

Hacking into harry's e-mail account had been no problem for Jaya. The hard part was going to be convincing Harry that I wasn't gonna do more damage to Uncle Dom than Letty had already inflicted when she saw him at the races. Jaya was the only person I'd told about my plans, though by now my parents had probably realised that I was up to something

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" she asked, for at least the fourth or fifth time.

"For the LAST time, YES! I have to do this!"

"To get back at Hector or because you actually want to listen to them yell at each other all day and night?" I glared at Jaya, regretting having brought her with me, and went into the store. Harry was sitting at the counter flipping through some auto magazine.

"How ya doin', Harry?" he put down the magazine.

"What can I do ya for, Rae?"

"Where's my uncle?" harry stared at me for a minute, but then caught sight of Jaya outside, beginning to put things together. He pointed over his shoulder, towards the back of the shop. I left, headed in that direction without asking the only other question I really wanted to ask.


	7. Sympathy for the Devil

**CHAPTER SEVEN:** SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL

I entered the backroom of _The Racer's Edge_ to find Dom eyeing the cop like he was about to kill the guy…not that I could really blame him.

"Get outta here, blondie. Don't give my dad more reason to kill you." I said, my eyes never leaving Uncle Dom. O'Connor left the room with the same 'calm, cool, and collected' attitude Dom had once labeled the boy's meal ticket…the one my dad and I had both loathed.

"Well, well, to what do I owe this visit?" I could have slapped him but it wouldn't have been as effective as if Letty or my mom had done it.

"I thought you should see these," I said, pulling the Polaroid snap shots from my jacket pocket. "Might be of use if you're lookin' to get back into Letty's good graces...and avoid getting kicked in the balls…again." He flinched at the mention of the incident.

"How's your mom, Rae?" He asked, watching his niece as she took in the cluttered-but-no-cluttered décor or the room.

"Tryin' to convince Pop that she didn't' pull him off the cop because she's still sweet on 'im." I answered. His gaze was deep as he studied each photograph before turning to the next one.

"Hector did this? To Letty?" he seemed oddly calm for what he'd just seen in those photographs showed. I only nodded.

"Explains the jacket the other night." He said.

"Yup. Can I ask you something and not get in trouble for it later?" I asked, knowing that the boys were most likely to keep what I said to them or around them to themselves. He nodded.

"Why'd you bring the cop back? I mean, I know why you came back—to fix the shit between you and Letty—but what's he got to do with it, when my folks are actually being civil towards each other and almost acting like an actual couple?"

"He got the charges against us dropped."

"You'd have known that if you stuck around. They drilled all of us for hours but nobody said shit." I took one look at his surprised expression and I actually hit him.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the respect your elders thing, but I have my limits.

"Rachel…"

"Don't you 'Rachel' me. You had that coming. Why Letty didn't hit you the other night is beyond me." I turned to leave. "Get your keys. You're gonna get a jump start on Letty."

"And Hector?" I almost laughed at him for that one.

"I think you might wanna take care of Letty _first_, Uncle Dom. Then you tackle Hector."


	8. Beware of Flying Objects Sparks Fly

**Chapter 8:** Beware of Flying Objects

She was the only one home when Uncle Dom and I got back to the house.

"That wasn't supposed to happen, but it works to your advantage." I told him, walking into the back door of the house. We were halfway up the stairs when Letty called out from what sounded like my room. Half way down the hall, she came out of the master bedroom—her and Dom's old room.

"Rachel, go down stairs." I knew that tone. It was the one Letty only used with dom when she was truly mad at him.

"You are some kind of fuckin' ballsy, coming back here, Toretto." Letty growled once I had disappeared from sight.

"Letty, I—"

"Shut the fuck up, Dom. I'm not finished yet. You get jesse killed and then you take off like we're gonna fucking narc you out or some shit; shows how well you know your fucking family.

Your sister had to fucking drop out of university to cover your stupid ass!" Dom took steps towards Letty, backing her into their room, closing the door behind him.

That's when it started.

Anything she could get her hands on, she threw at him. The hair dryer missed his head by mere inches. Then she started in on the bathroom, but not before chucking the lamp on the bedside table at him.

Before moving into the bathroom, she swayed her hips seductively—just enough to make Dom decide to follow her into the bathroom. But what Dom didn't know was that Letty held something hard behind her back.

She allowed him to take her face in his hands, and kissed him back when he kissed her, then as he closed his eyes and deepened the kiss, she almost forgot what she was doing. But as soon as she regained her senses, she whacked him—hard, on the side of his head—with her flatiron.

"OW! Goddamnit, Letty; the hell was that for?!" Dom pulled away, momentarily stunned, thus freeing Letty from his grip. He shook his head, clearing mis mind from the impact of the blow, and slowly noted the devious Cheshire-cat grin on Letty's face. Picking the flatiron up from where it had fallen, he tossed it over his shoulder, not noticing as it clattered against the door and landed on the floor. By then he had Letty pinned to the wall, kissing her forcefully but it wasn't like she cared.

He felt her hand move towards his belt, momentarily distracted when it deviated towards his pockets, and shrugged it off thinking she was going for the 'usual contents' of his billfold. He was still distracted, wrapped up in kissing Letty as she pulled her hand from his pocket, which was followed by the sound of the toilet flushing. Then it hit him. His billfold was still in his pocket, but his keys weren't.

"Awww, shit. LETTY!" Upon further investigation, he found that th keys to his precious car hadn't gone down the piping of the house's plumbing, but had instead clogged the drain of the toilet. In his peripheral vision, he saw Letty standing in the doorway. Until she bolted.

He took off, following her down the stairs, through the den, into the kitchen and finally out into the back yard. And there she was, sitting on the trunk of her maroon colored Nissan, with a grin worthy of the Cat-that-ate-the-canary.

Thunder boomed, but neither noticed. In the amount of time in which it took Dom to get out into the back yard and the thunder boomed, he'd made his way over to where Letty sat on her car, and had pulled her into yet another kiss. This time he pulled away—but only for a moment.

"I swear I love you, Letty."


	9. Fair Warning

**Chapter Nine:**

By now the rain was pouring, but it wasn't like Dom and Letty noticed.

"If you love me, why did you leave me here?" Letty asked, still holding onto Dom as though her life depended on it.

"Every day I was down there by myself, it felt like I was in Lompoc all over again." He started, unsure if Letty would believe him or not. "That much silence is enough to drive a man crazy. But it also made me damn sure of one thing: I'd be out of my mind to let you go again."

"Oh, god, not this shit _again_, Dom. We both know you don't mean any of it, so save us both some time by cutting the crap and quit trying to act like you fucking mean it!" Letty said, gently dropping back onto the trunk of her car.

Feeling challenged entirely, Dom's hand went into his pocket, feeling for something before he pulled it back out. Moving to the hood of Letty's car, he pulled her to him, despite her refusal to turn and face him.

"_Te quiero y solamente usted. Usted es la fuente de mi ser. Cáseseme, Letty._" Dom whispered in her ear, the hand which had been in his pocket making its way into her line of sight. (**A/N: Translations in order:** You are the fountain of my being. I love you and only you. Marry me, Letty.)

"_El peor sentimiento en el mundo sabe que usted ha sido utilizado y ha sido mentido a._" Letty answered, her voice threatening to break. "A veces yo le puedo odiar, pero yo siempre le adoraré."(**A/N: Translations in order: **The worst feeling in the world is knowing you've been used and lied to. Sometimes I may hate you, but I'll always love you.) Dom's other arm reached around Letty to open the box he held in his hand. In the box was a ring.

"I got this in San Diego the last time I was there...before the last heist." Dom said, his tone unshaking. "I was going to do this in Mexico, but that never happened..."

"Dammit, Dom!" Letty's voice gave way to the emotions she was trying to hold in. "_Si usted me duele otra vez, yo juro a Dios que cortaré lejos._" (**A/N: Translations in order:** If you hurt me again, I swear to God I'll cut it off.)

Dom had barely put the ring on her finger before she had him lying against the hood of her car, in a kiss hot enough to start a fire.


	10. Fair Warning continued

**Chapter Nine:** (Continued)

Mia seized the corona bottle from Vince's grasp and swallowed its contents like she were dying of thirst. Upon emptying the contents, Mia shoved the bottle to Brian, hoping to insult him if only slightly. She turned her attentions back to Vince.

She looked at him, her eyes conveying a message Brian wasn't privileged to hear. After a moment, she kissed him and spoke so that she and Vince were the only ones who knew what was said.

"So that's how it's gonna be, huh, Mi? You're gonna choose a guy whose gonna be a grease monkey for the rest of his worthless life instead of a guy who could provide for you and make medical school a possibility?" Brian asked, his voice practically drenched in condescension.

"If it means protecting my family and my brother from people like you, you bet your ass I'd choose Vince over you in a heartbeat." Mia replied, eerily calm. Then it happened.

Vince rushed him, knocking the blond into the wall. The larger male's fists were a blur in the time it took for Vince Duquesne to incur his wrath upon the only mole to successfully infiltrate the Toretto family's defenses.

It worked in Vince's favor that Leon happened to arrive at the market in time to enjoy the task of getting O'Connor as far away from the city of Los Angeles as he could without it drawing attention.

Back at the house, Dom and Letty had been left to their vices, as well as the luxury of an empty house.


	11. But You're MY Idiot

**Chapter Eleven:** I Should Tell You… (Part One)

Dom had no idea the true extent of the damage Hector had inflicted until he was truly alone with Letty. What he saw enraged him. His hands were gentle when he touched her, and all she wanted him to do was hold her.

"He did this to you, _mi vida_?" As he spoke, his hands traced the bruises that still covered areas of her body. She'd expected to feel pain at the contact of skin, but instead the sensation left her craving more of his touch.

"Dominic." It sounded like a whimper mixed with a moan as Letty moved, trying to seal out any space still between them. "_'No me dejes, Dominic._"

"Never again, Lett. Never again." Dom's hands moved to duck under the lightweight jacket Letty was wearing. She froze, visibly tensing. "_Yo nunca te haria daño, Letty_."

"I know…" she whispered meekly. Letty hated how weak and vulnerable she felt and sounded. She knew how violent Dom could be when provoked, but she knew better than anyone just how tender Dominic Toretto could be under that "tough guy" persona.

"I should tell you why I left. It wasn't 'cause…" he began.

"I know… it doesn't matter. You're here now." Letty said, finally began relaxing into Dom's embrace, locking her fingers with his. "But I should tell you Hector—"

It would seem Dom had either forgotten about Hector or he simply didn't care anymore. Letty'd almost let Dom take control but she couldn't ignore the nagging voice in her head screaming for her to tell Dom the reasons—the ones nobody but her knew.

The truth of it was they'd been on the verge of losing everything—the garage, the shop, everything but the house—when along came Hector. She didn't want to think about the mess—she couldn't—not without getting it all out in the open. She and Dom had never been the type to keep important things from each other.

"I need to tell you—about Hector." Letty said firmly, her eyes never leaving his.

"I don't care about your relationship with Hector, baby." Dom said, oblivious to what she was trying to tell him.

"There was NO relationship, Dom! Hector knew! He knew about the trucks, Dominic; he threatened to go to the cops with what he knew…" Letty rambled, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

"So why did it look like you were with him at the races?"

"Like I said," Letty sighed, "He threatened to start cooperating with the cops; tell 'em whatever they wanted to know; putting us all—including Mia—in jail so that Rachel woulda wound up in foster care. I cooperated to keep this family safe;

"So he was **blackmailing **you?"

——————

"I was wonderin' how long it'd take you to do that…" Mia said from the opposite side of the shop.

"Really, now? And here I was thinking you _liked_ him," Vince retorted in a tone soaked with sarcasm.

"Vince." He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Mia."

"That isn't funny. For god's sake, I just KISSED you! Hell, I even told _him_ I chose you over him!" Vince wasn't so easily won over.

"And he just kissed you. Didn't do that last time." His tone was monotonous.

"Yeah, and I hit him for it!" Mia was almost shouting now. "Ten minutes ago we were practically making out, V!"

"That was ten minutes ago, Mia. A lot can happen in that amount of time." Vince said, turning to walk away. "F—k."

"DO NOT walk away from me, Vincent." Mia said, her tone suddenly turning authoritative.

"Leave me alone." V muttered.

"Oh, you mean like I 'left you alone' after that goddamn hijacking? When you nearly DIED?" Mia snarled. "I was there for three days while you were out, Vince."

"Look, Mia. I don't want to get into this right now." Vince's tone sounded almost defeated. "God, I wish I could rewind today; sh—, if I could, I'd rewind this mess I call my life all the way back to the THIRD GRADE!"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?! that you think the past however many years were a mistake? that you think RACHEL was a mistake?!" Vince stopped dead in his tracks.

"Rachel's the only honest thing in my life Mia; she'll never be a mistake….but everything is so messed up." They were standing so close to each other their faces were almost touching. "What do you wanna do, huh? Play house? Don't know if you noticed but we tried it once…."

"So what are you gonna do, Vince? Move out? That oughta go over well." Mia said, trying to figure out what was going on and how to stop it...

"I don't know; seems like everything I do—or try to do—blows up in my face. How long do you think what happened back there in the back would last?" He looked at her with pain in his eyes.

Impulsively and almost instinctively, she kissed him.

"Answer me. I don't want to do this and then have to remember what it felt like when I'm all alone." He said, pulling back and holding her at arms length.

"I nearly lost you for good this summer; I'm not gonna make the same mistake twice," she said, kissing him harder. "I love you, Vince."

"God, I love you," Vince growled, sending shivers down her spine, his fingers fisting in her hair.

"Seeing you in that hospital bed made me realize what was staring me in the face; the man I loved was right in front of me this whole time."

"It took me gettin shot and almost falling of that damn truck to make you realise that?" He grinned at her. "S—t I'd a done it sooner if i knew."

"I'd still think you were just as big an idiot; but you're **my** idiot." He laughed.

"You called me an idiot without offending me…see? We're made for each other.' Mia pulled him to her, hands going into his hair, her nails scratching gently at his scalp as she leaned down to kiss him. He ran his fingers lightly up and down her torso, making her shiver.

"I love you," Mia whispered, her breath teasing his ear.

"Love you more." He growled back, burying his face in her hair.

"My brother's gonna kill you if you leave a damn hickey, V." Mia said, laughing.

"Nah, he'll have to catch me first. 'sides, I think he's pretty occupied with a certain someone he has locked in his room to notice right now." Mia smiled softly at him.

"So what're you gonna do, lock us in the basement?"

"Mi, with you know who upstairs and you n' me downstairs, that house'll fall apart." Vince said, looking at her somewhat arrogantly.

"I was NEVER that loud, you ass!" Mia laughed.

"That ain't what Mrs. Jameson down the street says….just ask letty….she saw the old hag at the store the other day….told her that she 'was actually getting rest now that Dom wasn't seducing her anymore lately." V said, laughing. "Said 'his sister should buy the 'hoodlum' with the atrocious beard, earplugs for when they 'get together'….and that they shouldn't let their dear daughter hear such things'…..gonna have to gag you Mia."

"Think Rae already HAS earplugs, V." Mia said, scratching at his scalp gently, laughing softly when his eyes widened.

"F—k, never thought about that before….girl needs a soundproof room.'

"Either that or she crashes with Balraj and Jaya."

"Guess she's gonna need her sleepin' bag." Mia purred into h is ear.

"Plannin' on causin' some trouble, Coyote?" his hands moved to stroke at the small of her back.

"Might get messy…" he said, kissing her neck.

"I can do messy; think it's my specialty…" Mia moaned softly.


	12. Never Again

Chapter Twelve:

**Chapter Twelve:**

The next month brought us to Thanksgiving, a much needed day of peace after the insanity Halloween brought upon us.

To the shock of those who'd witnessed Letty's display at the races, Dom had begged his way back into her good graces, and the size of the ring on her finger spoke volumes beyond what my uncle had been able to find words for.

I'm not sure how or when it happened, but I soon found myself being roped into helping my mother plan her brother's wedding—though I have a feeling it was Letty's doing so she wouldn't be alone in her misery and utter boredom.

"Remind me again why we're hiding out in the garage of all places," I laughed, panting between breaths, "from my mom?" I sat down against the wall, trying to catch my breath.

"Because, kid," Letty said, slumping to the floor beside me, "I hear one more goddamn word about this wedding, I'ma tell Dominic to just take my ass to Vegas and get it over with."

"Only then she'd kill you," I pointed out, receiving a pointed look from Letty.

"I'm about to kill HER as it is, Rae," she groaned, a hand moving to lie low on her stomach, "Mia's fuckin' crazy with these kindsa things. But you already knew that." I stared at her hand, wheels slowly beginning to turn in my mind.

"Is there something you're tryin' to tell me, Letty?" she sat up and ran a hand through her hair.

"Look, anything I tell you stays here, aight?" I nodded. "Dominic doesn't know about this. I could still lose it again. Mia doggin' me about the wedding **isn't** helping at all." I'd stretched out on the floor, but hearing this I sat up again.

"What d'you mean, _'lose it again'_? You make it sound like you were pregnant…" I stopped realizations hitting me. When I'd woken up beside Letty in her hospital bed, I'd heard two distinct heartbeats. "But you'd be showing by now if…"

"But I'm not, Rae…" Letty said solemnly. "I still was when Hector came around, but…"

"Hector didn't know so when he started hitting you, he got lucky and hit you enough to lose your baby."

"Rae, mija. I couldn't tell Dom. Not right now. I just got him back and I **CAN'T** lose him again." Letty said, choking as her voice began to break

"Do I look like Jesse to you?" I asked, feigning offense. She laughed, sniffling as she did so. "I'm not gonna tell Uncle Dom; 's between the two of you and it ain't none of my business."

**Time Skip: The next morning.**

"Dom…" Letty said slowly from where she lay in bed, watching Dom as he went about getting dressed.

She didn't know how she was going to tell him what she had to say, but she'd have to say it nonetheless.

He'd been gone for six months after the last heist. She'd been four months pregnant and hardly showing. It was two months before Dom came back when Hector had come at her in a rage one night. She'd disappeared for weeks after that until the bruising faded and she'd figured out what she'd tell the others.

"What, babe?" Dom asked, turning to look at her over his shoulder, putting his jeans on.

"'s somethin' i gotta tell you...bout before..." he nodded, his attention diverted to the fly of his jeans.

"Ok."

"Back before the heists…I didn't know before, but…baby, I was pregnant on that last heist…"

Letty saw his body stiffen.

His face hardened as the wheels in his mind turned rapidly.

He didn't look at her.

"That was over six months ago…" his voice was hard as he spoke. "¿Que pasó?"

Letty sat up in bed, watching him.

"Baby survived, surprisingly…" she said slowly. "I was fine until a couple months after Hector and I got together…" she sighed heavily. Dom turned around at this, frowning.

"Why…you aren't….your not showing….What the FUCK HAPPENED?!" he demanded.

"Jackass hit me. Over and over again...caught him with some whore, tried to leave him, he beat the shit outta my gut...killed my—our—baby," Letty said quickly. "...threatened to go to the cops with what he knew about the heists, was gonna if I left him."

He rubbed his hands over his face. His body was almost painfully tense.

"I don't even hit you…I don't even hit you…and he…he…" Dom murmured, grabbing the lamp from the bedside table, sending it shattering into the wall. "SONOFABITCH…I'm going to kill him..." he panted, shaking his head. "I shoulda come back sooner…"  
Letty got as close as possible, her hands on his skin. Her touch had always calmed him.

"Baby. Listen to me. You listening to me, look at me." She commanded him. He turned to her, her hands on the sides of his face. There were tears and hatred welling in his eyes.

"My baby…" he murmured

"You remember the night you proposed?" Letty asked, trying to keep the smile from her face.

"What…what does that have…?" he asked, frowning in confusion.

"Baby…I'm pregnant _right now_."

His face softened. He shook his head, still confused.

"¿Que?"

"I'm havin' your baby…" Letty said, smiling. "We got another chance, Dominic…"

"Again…you mean…?" Dominic asked, looking from her stomach to her face, still frowning. His heart was in his throat.

"Yea…right now…I'm pregnant **right** now."

Dominic bent down, wrapping his arms around her waist, lifting her into his lap as he moved to sit on the edge of the bed.

"You're serious…"

"'bout 2 months…" she said, smiling and nodded. "Didn't wanna say anything till I knew for sure…"

Dom nuzzled her neck, sighing. His arms tightened around her.

"That night, huh…?"

"'s how it looks." She smiled still. "We got a second chance at our family, Dominic…"

His hands tangled in her hair, his lips brushing against hers.

"Thank you…" he growled in her ear.

"Thank _you_," Letty said, kissing him back, "for coming back to me."

Dom coaxed her mouth open with his tongue, arms still wrapped tightly around her waist. He pulled away slightly, and murmured against her lips, "When'd you find out…?"  
"Skipped…" she said, shrugging her shoulders. "Last month; since the accident I'd been regular as clockwork; it freaked me out so I scheduled an appointment; found out about a week ago...Rae's the only one who knows other than you an' me…" Letty told him.

"When…when…" he sighed, struggling to find the words. "When did you…he hit you?!" his arms tightened to a snug hold around her.

Letty sighed.

She'd hoped they wouldn't have to talk about this.

"It was a month or two…after the last truck…it was Hector, so I figured, _what the fuck?_ and went to dinner a coupla times with him. Then he got controllin'… I caught him with some skank one night, we fought about it, then he started sluggin' the shit outta me and rantin' about how he'd fuck the family up and put us all in jail…screw Rae up for life…"

"How far along were you…?" Dominic asked, jaw clenched.

"Almost four, late in my third…" she hesitated, her voice cracking

Dom's eyes closed and he turned his head away slightly.

"Did he know…?"

"I don't know…don' really care."

"You didn't tell him?!"

"Dom…" Letty said, sighing and groaning. "I _**really**_ don't wanna talk about this anymore!"

"How far was he willing to go? Keep up the bullshit? You were going to start showing sooner or later. What were you going to do then?" Dom growled at her.

"I don't know and I don't wanna think about it! Why can't you go ask Hector?!" Her hands wiped at her eyes.

"Because he won't have a fuckin chance to talk when I break his fucking face in!! That's why." Dom roared at her.

"Please…if you love me, you wont make me keep thinking about this!" Letty pleaded with him. She _never_ begged. "Send V or Leon to talk to him!"

"Your mine. I take care of you. He touched you…only I get to do that." He wrapped both hands in her hair, gently tugging her to look at him. "He hit you…I don't even do that. He thought he could have what wasn't his. NO. Big fucking mistake. He's going to pay letty. He killed my baby. I'm not going to hurt him. I'm going to kill him."

"NO! I will not let you put yourself back in prison!" Letty shouted at him.

I already told you. I'm not goin' anywhere." He said, looking her in the eyes, his face firmly set. "But I'm not going to let him continue to walk around breathing."

"Baby…listen to me. You're not gonna put yourself back in jail for killing him. Edwin's people have the guns…Danny Yamamoto could probably get somebody to kill the fucker." She said, trying to alter his plans. "But it **CAN'T** be you. Or if you DO kill him yourself, don't leave anything that'll get you locked up...please, for the love of god."

Dom sat back against the headboard, pulling Letty to him and wrapping her legs around him. She buried her face in his neck as he rubbed her back, trying to get her to calm down.

"I'm doin' it, Letty…don't worry."

"You go back to prison and I will **never** forgive you, Dominic." She said, the fear evident in her voice.

"I'm not going anywhere Leticia. Les prometo que no voy a dejar usted. I'm not going to get caught. Pero el sonofabitch no será por mucho tiempo en torno,"

"I trust you…I love you…"

"Love you, too." Dom said, kissing the top of her head. He pushed her back a little, taking her shirt off with his hands. "Lift…"

She lifted her hips.

"Papi…promise me you won't leave me again…"

Dom shook his head, his paw-like hands running over her stomach.

"Say it…wanna hear you say it, Dominic…"

"I'm not going anywhere Letty, ever. I promise." Dom murmured, "If I go, you go…"

Letty sighed, nodding her head as she curled into his chest.

He ran his hands through her hair, down her back to hold her ass, squeezing as he savored the quiet and the feeling of his hands on her body, the feeling of her skin against his.

"I was so fucking scared, Dominic..."

"When…?"

"When you left and never came back…when he threatened to put us all in prison…send Rae away…"

"I wasn't going to leave you…not forever. He's never gonna lay another hand on you again, Lett…I swear."

"I know…" she whispered. "What're we gonna tell the guys?"

"About what? Did they not know?" she shook her head and corrected him.

"About the baby…about me bein' pregnant. Now…"

"What do you want to tell them?"

"I'm not ready to talk about before…after the heist…just tell 'em we're pregnant and we're getting married."

"Did they know why you were with Hector?" Dom's voice went cold again.

"They didn't know about the blackmailing, no."

"I told Vince…he didn't really get it." Dom snarled, "But now we need to tell them…Leon, Mia…Why he was around. I need to tell Edwin, he knows somethin was up though…didn't know what exactly but he knew…"

"Everybody knows somethin, it seems…Rae knew i was pregnant but didn't say anything."

"Smart girl…" Dom said. "Just like her mom…"

"She was curled up beside me in my hospital bed…kid passed out after Le brought her to the hospital…" Letty said softly.

"She was the one told me bout hector, something being off…not that I didn't already know that."

"Rae's like…Jesse, man…the glue that keeps us together…"


End file.
